Merit hasn't got anything to do with it. You'll notice this is the case when folks shrug off the more excellent also-ran by observing that with a [black|woman|Hispanic|homosexual] Bush'll be in a better position to beat the left at their own game.
This is not quite as breathtakingly transparent as a Lillian Hellman "recollection" of riding the streetcar up front WITH her black maid but it's still a nice way to appeal to those very folks and that very mindset that judges FIRST and FOREMOST by externals.
Don't we have any white guys on the cabinet who've a civil rights past suitable for feature or is this -- quite naturally -- left for the Black Woman who was, what, ten years old in '64?
Quite the prepubescent civil rights warrior compared to the Old White Men who evidently did nothing to end segregation, much less slavery. Black Women are just superior that way, I guess. I'm so glad we have a black woman on our cabinet. Maybe she can teach these guys a thing or two when she's not body-blocking Rooskies in the basement.
the only black woman I know of in the cabinet is Aunt Jemima. National Security Advisor is not a cabinet position.
If you read the article, it cleary states that Dr. Rice's family chose education as their way out of segregation, and not marching in the streets with MLK.
OH WELL ....
Like the Southern Democrat Senators in 1964 who voted against the Civil Rights bill? Like Albert Gore Sr. for example? It is a fact little communicated by the media, that a significantly higher percentage of Senate Republicans voted for the 1964 Civil Rights bill than did Democrats.